Chapter 1497 Vatutin’s Fire Captain

The commando led by Scott was stopped by the National Defense Forces who had come to their senses. For Herbert, who had already expected that this might happen, it was not a big surprise.

Correspondingly, Herbert's side was of course also prepared. The reinforcements were actually ready when Scott led the team to set off, and they rushed to rescue people after an emergency came from the front.

"Move the prepared reinforcements up to support, and tell Hermann that his armored forces must fight quickly and bring Scott's commandos and the fuel back to me intact. Time is running out, and we still have to pick up the pieces. The next step is to take action.”

"I understand, let's convey it now."

Looking at the departing back of the communications staff officer as he took the order, Herbert's eyes were a bit indescribably complicated. He didn't know what he was thinking about at the moment. What really worried him was obviously something else.

"It seems that those Russian guys were not fooled. General, what should we do next?"

The person who asked Herbert the question was his adjutant. Basically, everyone who can reach the position of adjutant to an SS general is a person who is good at observing words and emotions and can figure out what is going on. Herbert's adjutant is only 32 years old. He is such a smart person.

"Originally we didn't plan to expect that the Russians would be fooled. This was just an additional goal. Our main goal remains the same, to grab enough fuel and then launch troops to fight out. The few Wehrmacht troops who were unwilling to surrender have already joined us. Now we have more than 15,000 people at our disposal, which is enough to open a hole and rush out. The premise is that we must act quickly. "

Although it could be seen that he was slightly disappointed, Herbert's entire mental state was still very energetic and his voice was full of confidence. Now he still has not lost the decisiveness and absolute confidence that he should have as an SS general. This is one of the biggest assets that he can still command the troops to continue fighting.

As Vatutin had guessed earlier, the cunning and cunning Herbert was indeed using this puzzling sudden exchange of gunfire and gunfire to see if he could lure the Russians out of their holes and come out. A plan to lure the tiger away from the mountain.

If this plan succeeds, Herbert can immediately command the well-prepared elite SS troops to attack through the gaps and gaps exposed by the Red Army's movement and attack. No matter how powerful the field force was, it would never be able to move seamlessly and attack without exposing any weaknesses in the dark of the night. Herbert did not believe that those Russians could have such extraordinary abilities.

However, the development of the situation obviously did not go according to Herbert's wishes. The Russians on the opposite side still did not make any movement nearly half an hour after the sound of exchange of fire was heard. They did not even launch an artillery preparation before starting the attack. This clearly shows that No offensive operations are planned.

In short, Herbert's plan to kill two birds with one stone, not only to seize oil but also to lure the Russians to take the bait, failed. At most, he could only succeed in one of them: to seize the oil from the Wehrmacht, the highest degree of mission completion. Just this fifty percent, no more.

It sounded bad, but it also made Herbert admire the commander of the Russians opposite him even more.

If the previous intelligence was correct, and the Russians did not change their commander before the battle, the commander of the Russian team that has been fighting fiercely with our side for these days should be Vatutin. The troops under his command were the 1st Ukrainian Front adapted from the Soviet Army Cluster in the South of Kursk. They had considerable combat experience and tenacious combat effectiveness, and were very difficult to deal with.

"Vatutin, I heard that this man's evaluation by Stalin was not even lower than that of Zhukov. He is the most popular senior general in Russia. During the previous battle on the southern front of Kursk, I heard that he was the one who The three elite divisions of the SS escaped in embarrassment, and the three divisions of the Leibstandarte, Skull and Reich failed to achieve a breakthrough. Now it seems that he is indeed worthy of his reputation and has some abilities. "

By this time in 1944, the German army's intelligence system had actually become a sieve. The intelligence and espionage network infiltrated and deployed in Russia in front of the station was almost uprooted and disconnected by the Ministry of Internal Affairs. There were even cases where informants betrayed their superiors and contact points, which really dealt a fatal blow to the already imperfect and loophole-ridden German intelligence network against Russia.

One of the consequences of this is that the German generals on the front line have very little intelligence about their opponents and are full of jokes. Many times the so-called "latest information" is old sesame and rotten millet from 1943 or even 1942, and has not been updated for half a year.

What's even more funny is that for some Red Army commanders who deserve special attention, because the Germans really couldn't collect valuable information and intelligence, they had no choice but to listen to Russian radio broadcasts and try to get Soviet newspapers to understand the situation.

Look at what the newspapers and radio say about a certain Russian commander, and then piece together some old information from the past, and then you can get a rough understanding.

For example, some of Vatutin's latest situations were summarized by the German army in this ridiculous way. Herbert, who felt humiliated and paralyzed by this incident, was too lazy to complain anymore. He just felt a little more interested and recognized from the bottom of his heart towards Vatutin, who was not fooled by him. He felt that he was well-deserved and that was all. .

"In fact, General. Compared with this Vatutin, you should pay more attention to that Malashenko, the major general commander of Stalin's 1st Guards Tank Division, nicknamed the "Steel Butcher."

"The negotiating team sent by Stemmermann was scolded by Malashenko on the spot. At Prokhorovka on the southern front of Kursk, it withstood the offensive of three elite divisions of the SS for a whole day and night. It's this guy. If it weren't for him, the battle at Prokhorovka would never have ended like that. We could at least seize this theater and try to advance northward."

"Those losers at the General Staff of the National Defense Forces have a high opinion of Malashenko. They believe that Vatutin can be appreciated by Stalin at least half of the credit of Malashenko. They say that he is Vatutin's "fire captain" . This bastard Russian guy is in the encirclement unit now. If we encounter him during the breakout operation, the situation will become very difficult. "

The adjutant who had a close personal relationship with Herbert spoke out his true thoughts without any reservations. Herbert, who saw his two sly little eyes rolling under the lenses, quickly thought about it. Respond to the opening.